Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Jobs? No. A new hockey rink? You betcha.

Although they are paying far from pro level prices, a sports fan can take something positive away from the success the Windsor Spitfires are having in selling season tickets for their new building.

According to the team, there are almost 3,500 season ticket holders now, up from 2,000 last year. Those are some nice numbers, especially considering that Windsor is one of the hardest hit areas of the country in this economic downturn. Maybe there is some truth to the adage that sports is recession proof (or maybe some people are seeing the value in junior hockey versus the Wings...).

The new rink, which was a looooong time coming, opens this Thursday with about as good a game as you could have hoped for - a possible OHL final preview between Belleville and Windsor. It's a bit early to read too much into head-to-head games in the O (both teams will have added talent by the time the playoffs roll around), but that doesn't mean it won't be a hell of a game for the neutral fan to watch.

I'm not neutral. Go Bulls. Crash that party!

1 comment:

Mike Radoslav said...

There was a good discussion of "Drive This!", the Hardcore Sports Radio show that also appears on The Score.

With the recession NHL teams will have to start lowering ticket prices, let's be honest in the States if they have to decide hockey will be the first sporting event many will decide not to attend. This may in turn effect OHL teams within driving distance of a professional franchise. I do not believe Junior Hockey is going ANYWHERE here in Canada but the teams around hockey centres may need to drop prices and do a bit more to attract fans who can pay a few dollars more to see the pro's play on the same night.

This was brought up, of course, because this season the Red Wings started a $9 ticket promotion for their games.